Rochelle "Shay" Imdieke, left, and Shirley Otto leave the carousel at Como Park after getting wedding photos taken before they get married at Excedra Garden Thursday August 1, 2013. Minnesota became the 12th state in the nation to legalize gay marriage and same-sex couples began marrying on August 1. (Pioneer Press: Jean Pieri)

Shirley Otto, left, and Rochelle "Shay" Imdieke get married in the Excedra Garden at Como Park Thursday August 1, 2013. Minnesota became the 12th state in the nation to legalize gay marriage and same-sex couples began marrying on August 1. (Pioneer Press: Jean Pieri)

Shirley Otto and Rochelle "Shay" Imdieke show their permanent wedding ring tattoos before their wedding in the Excedra Garden at Como Park Thursday August 1, 2013. They are also exchanging rings. Minnesota became the 12th state in the nation to legalize gay marriage and same-sex couples began marrying on August 1. (Pioneer Press: Jean Pieri)

Shirley Otto, right, and Rochelle "Shay" Otto hug friends and family after their wedding in the Excedra Garden at Como Park Thursday August 1, 2013. Minnesota became the 12th state in the nation to legalize gay marriage and same-sex couples began marrying on August 1. (Pioneer Press: Jean Pieri)

In ceremonies big and small, outdoors and in, private and public and at just about every time of day and night, more than 100 same-sex couples were legally married in Minnesota on Thursday.

“I’m struck by the grace that each of these couples have had,” said Heather Fairbanks of St. Paul, who officiated at six weddings at Como Park. “I think it would be very easy to be bitter or upset, and they have — every single one of them — put that aside to enjoy the day and celebrate their wedding.”

Minnesota, where lawmakers authorized gay marriage this spring only months after citizens came within about 75,000 votes of banning it in the state constitution, joined Rhode Island in making its law official Thursday.

Same-sex couples can now marry in 13 states and in Washington, D.C. The national gay rights group Freedom to Marry estimates 30 percent of the U.S. population now lives in places where gay marriage is legal.

Many Minnesota couples wanted to be among the first of the first to get their state’s blessing. Their ceremonies began at midnight and continuing throughout the day.

“To know we got married and were kind of the official first wedding in the capital city, where all this political action happened, it’s insane. It’s insane. It is just super fun to know that we’re part of history, and we’re really hoping that we represented the hundreds of other people who are getting married tonight and during the day tomorrow,” said Bordson after the service, which included vows of love the couple made to their daughter, Anna, who is a year-and-a-half and wore a yellow dress for the occasion.

In Minneapolis, Mayor R.T. Rybak stood by as two women were married at midnight at City Hall, the first of 46 weddings he would officiate throughout the early morning. The nearly eight-hour-long event included an additional 21 couples married by Hennepin County judges in the city council chambers.

“It’s been an incredible labor of love,” Rybak said. “We’ve heard one amazing story after another about couples wanting to marry and the struggles they went through.”

OPPOSITION REMAINS

To those opposing gay marriage, it was a sad day.

“We have this gender-neutral society now where gender differences don’t matter, mothers and fathers don’t matter, any two parents goes,” said Autumn Leva, spokeswoman for Minnesota for Marriage. “I think that that’s a sad thing for Minnesota’s families and kids, and I also think it’s sad that the Legislature forced this through without accommodating basic religious liberty protection, and we’re going to see some very real conflicts between people’s religious liberty rights and this new law.”

Leva’s group announced Thursday it’s launching an effort to support legislative candidates in 2014 who voted against the law and to defeat those who voted yes.

Several members of the virulently anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., protested Thursday at the Ramsey County marriage license office on Cedar Street and at the state Capitol. “We think the issue is on the front burner and we showed up and said our piece,” said Westboro’s Fred Phelps.

The hour-and-a-half-long protest was planned months ago.

More than 50 gay-marriage supporters showed up in St. Paul to counter Westboro’s message, said Jay Hatlen Linnell, one of the advocates for the new law.

Leva said her group has no connection to the Westboro church.

WEDDINGS AHEAD

Weddings were happening outside the metro area as well on Thursday, including Crookston in the northwest, St. Peter in the south and Wabasha along the Mississippi River in southeastern Minnesota.

But the metro counties are likely to see a steady stream of same-sex marriages in the months ahead.

Ramsey County had received 173 applications for same-sex marriage licenses as of July 29, officials said. In Hennepin County, 641 marriage licenses were issued to same-sex couples in June and July.

Minnesota budget officials have estimated that 5,000 gay couples would marry in the first year. The state had 12,224 same-sex couple households in 2011, according to the American Community Survey.

The men, both 35, exchanged Irish claddagh rings, which will go on their left hands. The rings from a commitment ceremony they held 10 years ago will go on their right.

Which day will they consider their anniversary?

“I think our anniversary is going to be today because I don’t know how you beat the excitement of this,” said Bordson.

Roughly 12 hours after Bordson and Nolle’s nuptials, Shirley and Shay Otto tied the knot on a sunlit patio overlooking the frog pond at Como Park, as music from the nearby carousel and the chugging of school buses could be heard in the background.

The women, from Alexandria, wore coordinated white dresses and carried bouquets they had made filled with Calla lillies and roses.

Shay cracked up as she wiped off Shirley’s face after they kissed. “I get lipstick all over her every time,” she said.

Shirley, 48, and Shay, 38, have known each other about a year and a half and already have two matching tattoos. Now they’ll go for a third, which will say “faith, hope and love; 8-1-13.”

“IT WAS MAGICAL”

In Minneapolis, a large crowd filling the five floors of City Hall burst into cheers and applause as Cathy ten Broeke and Margaret Miles kissed for the first time as a married couple Thursday.

“I knew this day would come, but I didn’t think it would come at midnight in front of 900 people,” Miles said with teary eyes.

Al Giraud and Jeff Isaacson were the second gay couple to marry in Minneapolis. They planned to immediately celebrate at the Minneapolis Hotel near City Hall and then visit the North Shore near Lake Superior.

“It was magical,” Giraud said of his wedding ceremony.

After meeting 11 years ago, Giraud knew the day would come when he could marry Isaacson, but he didn’t know when, he said. They met after watching a football game in Tampa, Fla.

Minnesota U.S. Sen. Al Franken sent pink spray roses — which he gives his wife each year on their anniversary — to every couple being married at Minneapolis City Hall, and Gov. Mark Dayton spoke at the Minneapolis event.

The governor also proclaimed Aug. 1 “Freedom to Marry Day” in Minnesota.

For Fairbanks, the Como Park officiant, Thursday was a day largely free from the stress over little things that couples often get caught up with on their wedding day.

“All of these people are so much more focused on the marriage,” she said. “Maybe when you wait so long for something, you just have a better perspective on it. They know what really matters.”

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